Turnabout on Activist Offers an Out

Deal Lets U.S. Skirt Diplomatic Disaster

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng addressed members of the U.S. Congress by cellphone from a Beijing hospital, where he is under watch by Chinese authorities. Watch a clip from his call.

By

Keith Johnson And

Carlos Tejada

Updated May 4, 2012 3:10 p.m. ET

BEIJING—Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng would move to the U.S. with his family to study law under a new deal being discussed between Washington and Beijing, according to U.S. officials.

A New York University professor who is an adviser to Mr. Chen said he had an offer from that school.

Also on Friday, the Chinese government released a statement saying that Mr. Chen could apply to study abroad "like other Chinese citizens."

If completed, a deal could defuse a situation that has strained U.S.-China ties and embarrassed the Obama administration. But it was unclear whether Mr. Chen—whose about-face on a previous deal on Wednesday sparked a diplomatic scramble—had fully signed off. He didn't answer calls on Friday.

As the political drama over blind activist Chen Guangcheng continues, China has offered a solution that could save both Beijing and Washington embarrassment. The WSJ's Deborah Kan speaks to China editor Andrew Browne.

In Internet postings, Guo Yushan, a friend of Mr. Chen, said the lawyer told him on the phone that he has a "letter of invitation from New York University, and he is a free person." He added that Mr. Chen said he "wants to go to the U.S. for travel for a while and then come back," meaning he has not changed his mind from his initial negotiating position from inside the embassy.

"He maintains respect for the joint diplomatic efforts by China and the U.S. and their restraint," Mr. Guo wrote. A translation of the postings was provided by the U.S. State Department.

Jerome Cohen, an adviser to Mr. Chen and co-director at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at New York University's Law school, said Mr. Chen has been offered a visiting scholar position at the school. The final details with NYU have not yet been worked out, he said. University spokesman John Beckman said in a statement that Mr. Chen has an invitation to be a visiting scholar at NYU —either in New York or at one of our other global sites."

The U.S. has "high confidence" in the new deal, said a senior administration official Friday night in Beijing. The U.S. will grant Mr. Chen a student visa for him and his family if Chinese authorities accept his application to study abroad, two U.S. officials said.

ENLARGE

Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is seen in a wheelchair pushed by a nurse at the Chaoyang hospital in Beijing on Wednesday.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Enemies of the State

"We are encouraged by the overall process, and we believe that steps will play out expeditiously," the first administration official said.

In a statement, the State Department said Mr. Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children. It also said it expects the Chinese government will expedite his application for travel documents.

The new arrangement would replace an earlier deal brokered on Wednesday that would have allowed Mr. Chen to stay in China and study law at a university there. That deal fell apart hours after it was announced, when Mr. Chen expressed concern about his family's security if he were to stay in China and instead sought to flee to the U.S.

The reversal opened the Obama administration to criticism by human-rights groups and Republicans that it had left a prominent activist in China unprotected. As part of the deal Mr. Chen had already left the safety of the U.S. Embassy, where he had spent six days after fleeing persecution by local officials in his home in China's eastern Shandong province.

U.S. officials argue that Mr. Chen insisted that he wanted to stay in China, even as he left the U.S. Embassy and entered a Beijing hospital, where he was reunited with his family and is undergoing medical treatment.

A blind activist's escape from house arrest has drawn a line under flaws in China's legal system, at a time when the nation's leaders have been pledging to enforce the rule of law. How the Communist Party deals with Chen Guangcheng will be a test of its commitment to the cause. WSJ's Angela Yeoh reports from Beijing.

U.S. and Chinese officials at "the highest levels of both governments" hammered out the new arrangement during the day Friday, which also saw the conclusion of a two-day summit on economic and strategic issues between the two countries.

Friday's furious efforts to resolve the impasse—which threatened to cast a pall over the conclusion of the bilateral summit and potentially damage longer-term U.S.-China relations—included numerous phone calls between U.S. Embassy officials and Mr. Chen, the officials said. Additionally, embassy officials were able to visit Mr. Chen at the Beijing hospital where he is receiving treatment, access they had been denied on Thursday. Administration officials also said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton played a key role in brokering the new deal.

"From the beginning, all our efforts were guided by his choices and our values," Mrs. Clinton said in brief remarks to reporters on Friday.

U.S. officials said China appeared to be honoring other elements of the original deal, including a pledge to investigate allegations of abuse suffered by Mr. Chen's family in its home province. U.S. administration officials said that Chinese officials spent hours at the hospital recording his detailed allegations of mistreatment by local officials.

Mr. Chen, a self-taught legal advocate who has been blind since childhood, was long a campaigner against forced abortions and sterilizations under China's one-child policy. After angering local officials in his village in Shandong, Mr. Chen was convicted of charges that included destruction of property and gathering crowds to obstruct traffic and sentenced to four years in prison. He was released in September 2010 but was kept under virtual house arrest by plainclothes thugs who he says beat him and his wife if they tried to leave.

Mr. Chen escaped his home on April 22 after months of planning. With the help of other activists he made his way to Beijing, where he entered the U.S. Embassy on April 26.

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